


Despair and Hope; the Rise and Fall

by OptionA



Category: Danganronpa
Genre: Angst, Hagakure's crystal ball survived, Lots of stress, everyone goes a little crazy, insane!naegi, maybe ships..., not following canon, plenty of crazy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-13 19:26:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17493845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptionA/pseuds/OptionA
Summary: After the events of the first game/season, the six students who survive the first killing game leave Hopes Peak Academy with a grim outlook on this foreign, apocalyptic, world. The Despairs and the Future Foundation alike set their sights on recruiting the survivors. Join Naegi, Kirigiri, Asahina, Fukawa, Hagakure, and Togami as they decide where they stand on the future of the world.Meanwhile the Despairs are scrambling for a new leader and uncover a final plan from Junko Enoshima to create the next Ultimate Despair.





	1. A Slow Start

**Author's Note:**

> So.... I realize that this leg of the fandom might be practically dead, but hey I wanted to write this. Also please forgive me for spelling or grammar mistakes, this is the first time I post anything I write. Also if anyone does happen to read any of this please drop some comments, complaints, or advice you might have. I am very interested in maturing as a writer and input from an outside source is always good. Thank you for your time.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Really what happens before they leave/ as they are leaving Hopes Peak Academy. This is going to be a really slow start, as the title suggests, but I hope that you can get a feel for the slightly 'OC'd' characters.

The round, iron plate, was pulled aside with a deafening grinding sound. A cloud of dust rose to greet the six anxious students. They had been told that they had been trapped for five years. Naegi looked around at his friends with excitement, it didn’t matter to him that the psychopathic bear and Junko Enoshima duo had said that despair had gripped the world; it had been five years after all, and a lot could change in five years.

When the door had reached the end of its track and the doorway was no longer obscured by the thick dust, the survivors got their first glimpse of the outside world.

The bit of the city that they could see was a mass of ruin. They all rushed up to the opening and gazed in dismay. The houses and office buildings as far as the eye could see had been reduced to nothing but ruins. The streets were lifeless and alien in their decay. The horizon was an expanse of gray rubble, the only upright structures to mar the landscape, were tall black towers.

Asahina was the first to speak. “No…” She said, horror pervading her single word.

In Naegi’s mind that single word was repeated in a panicked haze. This was the result of all of their efforts? This was what their friends had died for? This God forsaken landscape?

He felt a hand brush his shoulder, Kirigiri was watching him apprehensively with those masterfully calm eyes, hand half raised. “What are we going to do Ultimate Hope?” She asked, her words flowing out in a whisper.

Naegi’s gaze swept around the group, eventually landing on Togami’s glazed eyes as he stared thoughtfully at the destruction that stretched before them. Togami looked up and for a second fear flickered in his eyes before his “mightier than thou” persona returned.

 

For their sakes, Naegi could not allow himself to wallow in defeat; if even self-absorbed Togami had the guts to pull himself together, then he could at least do the same, as the Ultimate Hope he owed that much to his friends. He had been wrong before; this world was not some wasteland. _People must still exist here, and where there are people, there is a way to combat despair. Yes! We have worked so hard and fought for so long for this. We are free now and we are going to make this work!_

 

“Everyone,” Naegi began with a smile. “I know that things look grim right now, but we will survive this.” At this new voice, expressions shifted around the room.

Asahina looked up from the floor and wiped a tear. Fukawa jumped in surprise. Hagakure clenched his crystal ball closer to his chest but looked up, hope alighting in his eyes. Kirgiri’s lips twitched upwards. Togami just glared back at him, although that glare was one of the weaker ones Naegi had received from the young prodigy, so he took it as a positive sign. Naegi’s smile widened and he continued on.

“I know that there must be someone out there who is fighting for Hope. We will find them and reassess the state of affairs of the world. As long as we hold even a shred of hope, we will defeat this Despair together!”

Silence fell, Naegi was unsure of what else to say. It was Togami who picked up the slack and barked out a series of grim commands.

“If we are indeed vacating this wretched place, then we need to bring supplies and gear with us. Asahina, and Fukawa, you two go gather what food, water, and weapons you can from the cafeteria. Kirigiri, and Naegi, you will find a way to transport the supplies. Hagakure and I will keep watch here. Sound good?”

Everyone gave varying signs of approval.

“Good. Now go!”

Everyone scurried off to do their parts. Half an hour later, they had regrouped.

Naegi took a second to reassess the group’s spirits. Everyone was looking more positive now that they had a clear direction.

“First of all,” Hagakure started, “Where do we want to go?”

Everyone looked at Togami. He rolled his eyes and pointed out to the horizon. “Lets go straight down the road then.”

Hagakure nodded. “Sticking to easily traversable roads sounds smart.”  

“Well how much food do we have?” Kirigiri asked, turning to Asahina.

Asahina grinned. “I estimate a little over two weeks’ worth of food.”

“And did you find any weapons?” Kirigiri asked tonelessly.

Asahina smiled sheepishly and looked to Fukawa.

“W-What? I don’t know anything about any weapons.” She said shaking her head, her braids shaking with it. Suddenly Fukawa sneezed and out came Genocider Sho. They gave a laugh, their tongue hanging out of their mouth. “But I have some idea. That kitchen was STOCKED! We found some gorgeous knives and a pair of scissors for cutting through meat, while not my favorite pair ever they will do. We made sure to wrap each weapon well, so that they wouldn’t get damaged or accidently cut anyone wide open.” They said with a cackle.

“Um, thank you Sho.” Naegi said with a nervous smile.

“I don’t need your thanks worm.” They said in disgust, and turned to Togami with bright eyes. “Did I do well?”  
Togami glared at them. “Go back to sleep Sho.”  
“Anything for you, my love.” They said with a smile. They sneezed and were replaced by a confused Fukawa.

“Well we found some backpacks,” Naegi volunteered cheerfully after a second. “enough for each person to have one.”

Kirigiri spoke next. “Each person should be able to comfortably carry a change of clothes and at least ten cans in their bag.”

 “That sounds good. Get that stuff together.” Togami said resolutely.

Naegi was done after ten minutes and sat in the entry hall, looking out the doorway and watched the red sky thoughtfully. He thought that at least that would have remained the same, but by some morbid twist of reality it had changed colors.

He felt his gut clench at the thought of leaving Hopes Peak. For all of the terror and fear he had felt here, it was a familiar space and he knew what kind of dangers lay here. Now that he saw the world that he had been sheltered from, it terrified him. If what Junko Enoshima had said was true, then her allies ruled this near apocalyptic wasteland and the six survivors were going to be quick and easy prey as soon as they left the school. They would be running, running aimlessly. While he was sure that there were possible allies somewhere out here, he had no idea where they could possibly be.

His gaze landed on the sparse black towers in the distance. Naegi was sure that they had not been there before, in his last memory outside of Hope’s Peak. He concluded that they must belong to Enoshima’s Despair group, seeing as they were the only buildings still standing above the remains of the city, untouched by the destruction that stretched to the horizon.

“What you looking at?” Asahina said as she came to sit next to him.

“Just what’s left of our skyline.” Naegi said with a sigh.

She laughed. “Hey, as you said earlier ‘We’r going to fight this despair.’ We can’t have our Ultimate Hope being so glum. Smile!” She said with a bright smile of her own.

Naegi tried a smile, and found it sparking a bit of joy and optimism as it spread on his lips.

“Much better.” Asahina said in approval.

Togami appeared. “If you two are done wasting daylight chatting, we’r all ready to go.”

Naegi let loose a small laugh as he stood. “I’m ready.” He said flashing his smile to the rest of his friends; no by now they were more than friends and more like family.

With that they began their adventure into the dark world they once knew, now twisted by madness and despair.  


	2. Survival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the group makes their way through the ruins of their city, they run into a bit of a snag.

It had only been two days since they had left hopes peak and they were already running into issues. First of all, none of them were sleeping. Between the stress and Hagakure’s snores, there was no way any of them could let their minds relax; except for maybe Hagakure himself, who didn’t seem to have much problem with their new life style. The harsh nights on the hard floors of abandoned homes and dilapidated buildings, offered little comfort. Pretty soon the group started looking forwards to their individual night shifts for watch duty, since that at least gave them more to do than to stare at the listless ground.

After the first few days they had all seemed to adapt somewhat, they would now fall asleep in the early morning and then wake up once the sun rose, giving them a few odd hours of sleep.

Even then, those sparse hours were barely enough to keep the group functioning. Togami was constantly frustrated, Kirigiri was always quietly watching everyone passively, Hagakure never stopped complaining, Asahina and Naegi were still doing their best to stay positive, while Fukawa just glared at everyone.

The first week passed by in a blur of sleepless nights and unremarkable views of destruction and deserted ruins. They didn’t see a single person or any sign that anyone had been by the main roads in ages. The group had agreed to steer clear of the black towers, and while it was probable that there were people near the towers, they were sure that the people there would not be friendly.

The group trudged doggedly through the light, late afternoon, fog which blurred the shades of grey and black on the horizon.

Togami’s voice came from the front of the group as he pointed at a bright sign that hung over a half caved in supermarket. “That would be a pretty good place to hide.” He said thoughtfully. “Its really recognizable.”

Kirgiri responded with a nod. “That house over there with the faded pink would be a pretty good place too.”

“Who cares about hiding places,” Hagakure whined, “I’m tired, I can’t walk anymore. Plus, I’ve got a rock in my shoe and I’m really sore. Can we _please_ just sit down somewhere and take a breather?”

Togami rolled his eyes in annoyance, but relented nonetheless, Naegi suspected that he was just as exhausted as Hagakure.

“Fine. Everyone, head into that house over there. We’re going to take a break.”

The group moved slowly, picking their way across the rubble strewn side street, cautiously.

Asahina got to the front door of the house first, and tried the doorknob, nothing, it wouldn’t budge.

“Um, guys this door ’s not opening.” She said with a nervous little frown.

Naegi looked around at the neighboring houses, they seemed to have back patios and entrances for the backyard.

 “Maybe there’s a backdoor.” He posed hopefully.

Togami gave a frustrated sigh, “Hagakure go check the back for another entrance.”

“Why me?” He whined in response. “Everyone else here is _perfectly_ able.”

Togami pushed his glasses up his nose and sent Hagakure a cold glare. “Just do it.”

Hagakure shot him a look but made his way to the back of the house. A second later, they heard Hagakure’s voice hollering that there was indeed a back door over there.

Everyone shuffled into the house, exhausted and ragged after walking for so long. The inside of the house was unremarkable, a dusty couple pieces of furniture and tables.

While everyone collapsed into a heap, Kirigiri went off to inspect the kitchen with Asahina.

Naegi had just sprawled himself over one of the couches when he started to dose of, he was sure that someone had said something about running water.

He dreamed for the first time in a long while. _He was with his sister, walking home from school and they were talking, just talking about everyday things. It was a pleasant day, he decided that he must have been in middle school during this dream because there didn’t seem to be any mention of Hope’s Peak, and his sister was smiling and talking. But something scratched at Naegi’s mind, he couldn’t seem to get a clear look at his sister’s face. Not while she was tucking her short dark hair behind her ear, nor when she leaned over to grab her phone and show him a picture. Why was that? His attention was quickly wrenched away from the question. A dog had run up to them and his sister had begun to gush over its cute face and long white fur. Naegi agreed with her and bent down to pet the small animal, hoping to feel that soft fur that she had mentioned. But before he could touch the dog, he heard a distant crashing sound, and the dog began to bark at him violently._

_Why was the dog barking? What had that crashing sound been? Why was the image of the dream suddenly fading? Why did he feel so cold?_

Suddenly hands gripped him and shook him violently. “Naegi! Naegi. Wake up. We need to run.”   

Sounds started to filter in beyond that voice. A violent clanging sound, a distorted laugh, and a loud variety of yells and movements; they all blended together into this horrible cacophony.

Then he sprung up, this, it sounded like a fight…

“Naegi! Move it.” Asahina was saying, throwing a backpack at him.

He put his arms through the straps of the backpack and looked around, startled. Those noises he had heard were coming in through a fresh hole, the size of a large car, in the far wall.

“What’s going on.” He asked panic rising in his throat.

“We’re getting attacked!” Asahina said as she grabbed another two backpacks and dashed for the backdoor. “Follow me.”  
“Attacked by who?” He asked as he followed her, barely matching her sprint.

“We have no idea.”

“Where are the others?”  
“Kirigiri and Fukawa are distracting the attackers. Kirigiri’s told me that she’s worried that there might be a third one sneaking around though, so keep an eye out. Togami and Hagakure are hiding in another building, trying to figure out our next move. You and me are going to hide the gear so that we have more mobility without having to worry about our resources. After we do that, we will regroup with Togami and Hagakure and help Kirigiri and Fukawa with the offence.”

“Why did we leave Kirigiri and Fukawa alone?” He asked, panicked. What if they got hurt? Or what if….no he didn’t even want to think it, he didn’t want to imagen what the worst possibility would mean.

“We had to make a split-second decision, the four of us didn’t have any real way to defend ourselves.” Aashina said apologetically. “Besides, you were still comatose and we couldn’t move you ‘cause you were too heavy.”

His heart plummeted into his stomach. He had caused everyone else problems, because he couldn’t bring himself to wake up fast enough. Now, his friends were fighting for their lives and there was nothing he could do.

They neared a faded, pastel colored house. Asahina dumped her backpacks into a trash can, Naegi followed suit, the whole while stuttering out apologies for his uselessness.

Asahina watched him, and gave a reassuring smile. “What are you even apologizing for? You need to be leading us. You made a mistake, and that’s normal, now we just need to deal with what we’ve got. We need to help our friends. What do you say we focus on that Mr. Ultimate Hope?” She said with an even wider smile.

He nodded in agreement. “Right.”

Asahina led Naegi over to a half-dilapidated supermarket, in the back of which sat Togami and Hagakure; the latter of which was shaking violently.

“Are you two okay?” Asahina asked as she rushed up to them from between the empty rows that would have once held towering stacks of food upon their racks.

Togami looked up. “We’re fine physically. Hagakure is just a little spooked.” He took a moment and eyed Naegi coldly. “I’m glad to see that you managed to wake the sleeping beaut-”

 

Everyone froze suddenly, Naegi’s heart skipped a beat as panic stiffened his limbs. There had been a crash at the front of the supermarket.

 

An interminable second passed in which they all kept their ears primed, listening for any further noise.

“Togami!” That was Fukawa’s voice. Everyone relaxed visibly.

“What is it?” Togami asked, standing and moving towards Fukawa’s voice.

Naegi, Asahina, and a shaky Hagakure followed him.

Asahina smiled in relief when she rounded the corner of the row and saw Fukawa safe. The girl was barely injured except for a couple scratches and a tear in the sleeve of her school outfit.

Seeing that Fukawa was alone, Naegi looked around in confusion, they were missing someone important.

“What happened to Kirigiri?” He asked, worry lacing in his gut.

Fukawa looked up at him. “I…I d-don’t know.” She took a breath and tried to steady her breathing. “W-we managed to shake off the guys that attacked us, then Kirigiri just said to run to one of the meeting places. Then we split up and I came here.”

She began to shake furiously. “Kirigiri was injured when I last saw her, she had this horrible gash on her leg and I don’t think that she could run very fast.  What if those guys find her again?”

“She won’t stand a chance alone...” Naegi said, his eyes wide in fear.

“We have to go find her!” Asahina exclaimed.

“I agree.” Togami said with a nod. “Hagakure, do you still have the backpack I gave you?”

Hagakure nodded and turned to display the backpack he carried on his back.

“Pass it to me.”

Hagakure did as he was instructed, mildly puzzled.

Togami zipped open the backpack and pulled something out a second later. It was a knot of tightly wound linen.

“What is that?” Hagakure asked, confused as to why he had been carrying that extra mass around.

Togami unraveled the material carefully and peeled back the layers to reveal a sharp blade.

“I’ve been carrying around a butcher’s knife?” Hagakure asked, his voice shrill with horror.

Togami rolled his eyes. “Yes. We needed to have a weapon on hand for a situation like this.”

Off to the side, Fukawa was fidgeting with her skirt nervously. “I-I don’t mean to hurry you, b-but we should go.”

“I agree!” Naegi said suddenly. “Kirigiri could be in danger and she’s already hurt; she won’t be able to properly defend herself.”

“Ok,” Togami said with a wave of the knife. “Asahina you’re the strongest person here, apart from Sho, so you’ll take the knife.”

Her face turned red. “You want me to handle a meat cleaver?” She asked, shocked. “That wouldn’t be a good idea, I’m super clutzy. What if I accidently stab someone?”

“You’ll do fine-” Togami started to say, but Naegi cut him off.

“I’ll do it.” He said, determination playing across his face.

Togami looked at him in surprise. He then looked over to Asahina to gauge her reaction, she seemed relieved.

“Fine.” He said standing up straighter. “Then, Naegi will carry the knife.”

He turned to Naegi and handed him the sharp weapon.

“Be careful.” Togami said solemnly, Naegi gave a nod and took the handle.

With that, Hagakure took the backpack back and the group set out at a sprint to find Kirigiri.


	3. The truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirigiri and Fukawa/Sho have made it to safety after fighting the men who attacked their friends. Kirigiri gives a flashback on the fight.  
> But, wait, Fukawa should be with the other group...What is this?

Kirigiri walked numbly into the living room of the pink house. Genocider Sho followed behind her just a second later. 

“Well we’re here detective girl. Now what?”

Kirigiri looked around at the dusty room, at its broken coffee table and torn up sofa.

“Now we wait for the others.”

“You don’t want to go looking for them?”

“No.” Kirigiri said, sinking into a wooden chair. “It’s best to just wait here, where its safe.”

“Fine.” Sho said evenly. “I’m going to hand the reigns back to Fukawa then.”

They sneezed and suddenly Fukawa’s timid and startled eyes were staring back at her.

“Where- where am I? What ha-happened? Weren’t we getting attacked? Where’s Byakuya?” She asked, panicked.

Kirigiri sighed and leaned back in her chair.

“Togami is hiding with everyone else, at the supermarket. Sho and I fought off the attackers. We’re hiding out here, in the pink house, for now. The others should be here soon.”  
“O-ok.” Fukawa said, looking around, still a little lost. “Do you know if there is a bathroom here?”

Kirigiri watched her coolly. “I haven’t checked, but there’s probably one in the back of the house.”

The other girl nodded and mumbled a ‘thanks’ before disappearing into the hall.

Kirigiri sighed and looked around for a moment, as if to confirm that she was alone, and took a deep breath as her façade slipped. She felt her throat close up in delayed panic and grief. Her muscles began to shake as the adrenalin and exhaustion fought for control over her body.

_God, that was scary._ She thought to herself as she breathed deep, calming, rhythmic breaths. _Those bear head wearing people just appeared out of nowhere_ …

 

One second, they were all just chilling, everyone was starting to doze off for the night, and she had just finished her first shower in almost a week; she had been feeling good.

Yeah, everything had been fine…

 Until, suddenly, there was an explosion, a gaping hole in their temporary abode, a suffocating cloud of dust, and a robotic voice asking for their cooperation. In her panic she had grabbed a baseball bat that she found in a closet, and she had rushed to the new exit ready to defend herself and her friends.

She certainly hadn’t expected to look down from the pile of rubble, to see two black and white bear head wearing lunatics standing there, staring back at her.

It had taken her a second to register that the bear heads they were wearing, were in fact giant Monokuma heads with little blinking red lights for eyes. She also quickly noticed that the two men were armed, one sporting on his shoulder a grenade launcher and the other holding up a megaphone to his lips, a gun held lazily in his other hand.

Genocider Sho appeared beside her, scissors in hand. “Oh! Look at these bad boys, all decked **out**!” They exclaimed with excitement. “Look at their adorable little hats too. Such cute teddy-bear people.”

Togami’s voice came from behind them. “Kirigiri, you and Sho need to distract these guys! Hagakure and I will be at the supermarket we passed before, figuring out a good plan.” He said as he picked up a backpack and shoved it into Hagakure’s shaky hands. He pointed to Asahina. “Asahina, you take care the rest of the gear, take the rest of the packs to the pink house.” Next, he motioned to Naegi’s defenseless, sleeping, form with disgust. “And do something with that dolt when he wakes up.” He shot them all a sharp look. “Remember, our meetup points are the supermarket and the pink house. Be sure to get there safely once you have completed your objectives. Got it?”

Kirigiri gave a nod in confirmation and saw Sho run off to engage the two men, who now only stood twenty feet away.

Just as Togami was about to leave, Kirigiri shot a comment over her shoulder. “Be careful Togami. There are probably more of these guys around here.”

Togami gave a nod and shoved his glasses up his nose, before disappearing with Hagakure in tow.

Asahina flashed her a thumbs up and Kirigiri took her support with her version of smile, which was a barely noticeable upturn of the lips.

Kirirgiri turned her attention to the men Sho was now fighting.

Really the serial killer was barely holding off the pair. The man who held the grenade launcher, seemed to be out of shots so he was just attempting to hit Sho with the long barrel, swinging at them wildly. The other man, the one with the gun, was standing five feet away with his back facing Kirigiri; he was attempting to shoot Sho from there, while they were distracted with the other man, but was failing miserably. While Kirirgiri was sure that this last man would run out of bullets soon, she was equally sure that it was only a matter of time until one of those shots hit Sho and Fukawa.  

_I need to get in there quick_. Kirigiri thought desperately. _I don’t think that the two men have noticed me yet, they’re too focused on Sho, that gives me the element of surprise. Whatever the case, these two guys don’t appear to be too smart, that will make fighting them easier._

_The man with the grenade launcher doesn’t seem to be too much of threat as long as we can dodge fast enough; Sho looks like they’ve got him covered. The gunman is going to be a bigger problem._

_I should be able to dislocate the second man’s shoulder if I hit his joint hard enough, that will at least get rid of the gun and hopefully stun him. But then what? If I fail, I’ll be right behind him; a shot from that range and I’ll be dead for sure._

Kirigiri looked down at her bat, and tested its weight in her hand. _I’ll just have to hit as hard as I can. With any luck that’ll be enough to disarm him. We’ll just have to see where we go from there._

Without letting her mind produce any more excuses, Kirigiri rushed down the slope of rubble. She approached her oblivious opponent cautiously. There was her target, the man’s right shoulder, bare and unprotected.

 Kirigiri raised her weapon soundlessly. _One strong blow!_ She tensed her muscles in anticipation…

And she swung down. Kirigiri felt a satisfying give on contact. She watched as the man’s arm went limp and hung lower than she thought it should have. Suddenly the figure spun around.

_Shit!_ Kirigiri thought in surprise as she took a step back, raising her bat in preparation to attack again.

The Monokuma head’s red eyes fixed onto her face, and the man didn’t move for a moment. Kirigiri could have sworn that a small camera lenses in the eyes had focused on her face, and she could hear an unnerving whirring sound coming from the head.

She was paralyzed, expecting the man to at least swing at her with his fist, instead he just stood there, unresponsive, with an arm hanging out of its socket.

Suddenly the body gave a jerk and an unnervingly distorted robotic voice came from the head. “Where…is Makoto…Naegi?”

Kirigiri wasn’t sure how to respond. What could they want with Makoto?

The voice started up again, ready to repeat. “Where…is Ma-” But the head pitched forward suddenly and the man turned away. Kirigiri now saw that a pair of scissors were protruding from the back of the Monokuma head. Beyond the man’s oversized Monokuma head, Kirigiri saw that Sho was facing them, with a pair of their familiar scissors in hand.

The distorted voice came from the Monokuma head for a third time. “Where…is Makoto…Naegi?”

“Like I would know, you Monokuma head wearing freak!” Sho exclaimed before throwing another pair of scissors.

The man dodged jerkily and began to stumble towards the girl with braids. “Where…is Makoto…Naegi?”

“Shit!” Sho said, they were out of scissors. The man was now only a few steps away from them, his hands outstretched. “Where…is Makoto…Naegi?”

Panic played across Sho’s face as they watched the man approach, they were unarmed and unable to defend themselves.

Kirigiri snapped out of her stupor at this new situation. She ran forwards and lined herself up behind the bear head wearing man, ready to attack. She swung hard at his head, watching as the side of the bear head imploded with the force. Kirigiri watched in horror as the man did not right himself, as she had expected, and instead fell to the side, collapsing into a lifeless heap on the street. Her horror only deepening when she saw a pool of blood leak out from under the bear head. She must have hit harder than she thought.

“Oh crap.” Sho said unceremoniously as they walked over, seeing the blood. “Yeah, that guys **dead**.” They laughed flippantly as they knelt down beside the corpse. “That was a nice shot detective girl.” Sho ripped out their scissors from the back of the bear head.

_I just killed someone...That was a person._ Kirigiri’s stomach did a flip of dread and she thought that she might lose her lunch. She turned around and struggled to regain control of her expression. _Think objectively…You were just protecting yourself. You were justified…Now…_

_Y-you need to think about what to do next._

Kirigiri cleared her throat. “Genocider Sho, is the other man dead?”

“Yeah. Why ya askin’?” Sho knelt down next to Kirigiri to pick up they'r fallen pair of scissors.

“Good.” She closed her eyes for a moment. _That’s two men dead. I’ve killed someone, and stood by as another person died. What has this world done to me?_

_Stop! You can’t think about this now._

 She tore her thoughts away from that abyss of self-pity. “We need to go meet up with the others.”

“I vote we split up. I can go to the supermarket and see my dearest Byakuya.” Sho said excitedly as they stood, having retrieved all of their personalized weapons. “Ya can go to that other place, the pink house.”

 Kirigiri shook her head. “We should stick together, more of these men could show up.”

Sho shrugged. “If that’s what ya think is best. Everyone says that you’re the smart one, after all.”

Kirigiri took a deep breath and tried to steady her shaky hands. _Be objective._

 “We need to get out of the open. Lets go to the pink house first and decide what to do from there.” She said evenly.

“Roger.” Sho said, doing a mock salute that was ruined by their hanging tongue and wild grin.

 

As the two set off for their new destination, a man watched them delightedly from a roof only a few blocks away. His grin widening as he removed the pair of binoculars from his eyes. He held up a headset and typed a command into a computer on his lap. While the Monokuma helmet’s feed was down, the audio it had recorded was still accessible. His grin only widened when he heard that last snipped of discussion.

Byakuya Togami was at the supermarket nearby, and wherever Togami was, Makoto Naegi would be as well.

“Oh this is all so wonderfully Despair inducing!” The man said in glee as he pulled out a picture of Naegi. “Don’t worry little hope, we’ll bring you home soon enough.” The man devolved into manic laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was this chapter? Confusing?  
> I wanted to try out this new thriller type chapter composition. Please give me your opinions on it.  
> Any guesses on who that man I mentioned, at the end, is?


End file.
